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Post by chernjam on Jun 7, 2016 14:45:06 GMT
Didnt see this on another thread - so I thought I'd post it here: www.independent.co.uk/news/people/andrew-lloyd-webber-on-his-hits-misses-and-four-missing-years-a7068156.htmlLove when ALW has an opportunity to reflect on his previous works, but the maddening thing about this is how the articles give so few details. It's like the reporter tells you just what they talked about without giving you the rest of it. Like why did he think The Woman in White didn't work.... or Stephen Ward... Would he revisit them? What about some of his lesser known works - like Aspects of Love... Found it interesting that he feels LND is "finished" now. I thought they were seriously considering changing the ending to that. Hope that if it does play the US Sierra and Ramin will return to it - although I don't know how they feel about touring (even if it does eventually make it to Broadway) |
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Post by westendwendy on Jun 7, 2016 14:52:33 GMT
Amazing how you can go from hating something to loving it. That was my journey with Love Never Dies. The score is gorgeous, but then again, perhaps it never should have been done in the first place and the score completely used for a new story. I think that would have worked better.
I do wish he would resurrect his Master and Margarita stage plans! Forget political type shows, he did it once with Evita, something new is needed.
As for the autobiography - hurry up and write it Andrew! Although he will upset many by the sound of it!! eek! |
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Post by johartuk on Jun 7, 2016 15:10:43 GMT
The possible original musical for a live TV broadcast sounds interesting. I hope that comes to fruition.
Also, I suspect his autobio would make for fascinating reading!
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Post by Jon on Jun 7, 2016 15:12:59 GMT
The possible original musical for a live TV broadcast sounds interesting. I hope that comes to fruition. Maybe he could team up with Tim Rice and rewrite Cricket but call it Baseball... |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2016 16:15:52 GMT
Amazing how you can go from hating something to loving it. That was my journey with Love Never Dies. The score is gorgeous, but then again, perhaps it never should have been done in the first place and the score completely used for a new story. I think that would have worked better.
I do wish he would resurrect his Master and Margarita stage plans! Forget political type shows, he did it once with Evita, something new is needed.
As for the autobiography - hurry up and write it Andrew! Although he will upset many by the sound of it!! eek! An interesting thought on Love Never Dies, wendy, and one I'd never considered before. As you say, the score is gorgeous- it just didn't work as Phantom II, especially not with the production mounted in London. It would have been interesting to see what completely different and unconnected love story could have been worked around these songs which seem destined to be all but forgotten ... I'm not sure we'd get much sense out of his autobiography now; he just seems to trot out the same lines about how the latest version of whatever musical is the best blah blah blah, and how it was all wrong before. Tim Rice's book is a fascinating read. Such a pity he has never published Volume 2. |
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Post by mallardo on Jun 7, 2016 17:01:32 GMT
Blaming Stephen Ward on painkillers is an interesting one though. I'll have to remember that the next time excuses are required.
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Post by whygodwhytoday on Jun 7, 2016 17:17:20 GMT
I've always presumed great writers, such as ALW, posses somewhat objective perspectives - something necessary in cooking up both commercial and creative hits. How anyone could deem his recent musicals as creative successes is beyond me, so it is good to know he acknowledges their shortcomings. It will be interesting to see where his work is going, although I have very low expectations (don't kill me pls).
I read the article last night, and agree it's such a waste of an article! Some detail wouldn't have gone amiss! xxx
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Post by Jon on Jun 7, 2016 17:29:15 GMT
I think ALW and Cameron Mackintosh as they got more successful didn't have anyone to say no to and ALW started producing shows himself so he made the decisions even if it wasn't the best. School of Rock, I think he knew going in he wanted to do a fun project and his idea of doing the tryouts at the Gramecy rather than out of town was a brilliant idea because it meant the material could be worked on rather than worry about sets and stuff.
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Post by chernjam on Jun 7, 2016 20:05:52 GMT
I think ALW and Cameron Mackintosh as they got more successful didn't have anyone to say no to and ALW started producing shows himself so he made the decisions even if it wasn't the best. School of Rock, I think he knew going in he wanted to do a fun project and his idea of doing the tryouts at the Gramecy rather than out of town was a brilliant idea because it meant the material could be worked on rather than worry about sets and stuff. Thats a good point Jon - the Gramercy "workshops" really were a master-stroke for the creative team. They were able to read audience reactions, play with scene orders/etc - and also build up word of mouth buzz 5 months prior to it started performances. The show has been grossing pretty much over a million dollars a week (not sure what the weekly expenses are there or how much it cost to mount, but by this point - they're in better position than the last of ALW's outings - Woman in White, JCS in 2000, By Jeeves, JCS in 2012 on Broadway) I always liked the idea of the Master and Margarita - but imagine that would be a difficult thing to translate into a stage musical. The TV musical sounds pretty interesting. Definitely could be a great ratings thing - ALW knows how to write a song that can stand on its own on pop-charts which would definitely cause a buzz. I actually was hoping they would do Whistle Down the Wind on TV - even if it wasn't a "Live" TV version - since ALW was big on Whistle being something that was originally conceived on the big screen, maybe this would be the way to do it? And there's some beautiful music from Whistle that hasn't gotten a lot of airplay here in the States like it did internationally (ie - No Matter What) As for Glenn doing Sunset in NY - don't want to start another debate on it, but, seriously, she's gotta hang the turban up already. There's no novelty here like there was in London as she starred in the role for about 8 months. NY will be comparing her to her run 20 years ago. I love Sunset and would really love to see a full scale production again, but let's not go with Close again. As for Love Never Dies - I didn't have a problem with the sequel per se (although how long were they denying it was a sequel?) I think that was more the Phantom Phans who rebelled against that. There were areas that definitely didn't work with the original production, and there are still some story issues, but then again, they can get way too crazy about trying to make it perfect. |
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Post by Jon on Jun 7, 2016 20:08:33 GMT
It might be wrong but I read on the old forum years ago that ALW was interested in doing Brief Encounter as a musical. I think Kneehigh's brilliant adaptation of it probably put that idea to bed.
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Post by Polly1 on Jun 8, 2016 11:26:25 GMT
It might be wrong but I read on the old forum years ago that ALW was interested in doing Brief Encounter as a musical. I think Kneehigh's brilliant adaptation of it probably put that idea to bed. Well, if we're talking brilliant adaptations, I don't think ALW would ever get near Complicite's stunning version of Master and Marguerita. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 21:15:17 GMT
Blaming Stephen Ward on painkillers is an interesting one though. I'll have to remember that the next time excuses are required. I think its legitimate. Writing a new show whilst recovering from those kind of health problems probably wasnt the best choice |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 8, 2016 21:33:22 GMT
He is very keen on blaming the failure of his shows on other things and people.
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Post by djp on Jun 9, 2016 1:26:51 GMT
Amazing how you can go from hating something to loving it. That was my journey with Love Never Dies. The score is gorgeous, but then again, perhaps it never should have been done in the first place and the score completely used for a new story. I think that would have worked better.
I do wish he would resurrect his Master and Margarita stage plans! Forget political type shows, he did it once with Evita, something new is needed.
As for the autobiography - hurry up and write it Andrew! Although he will upset many by the sound of it!! eek! An interesting thought on Love Never Dies, wendy, and one I'd never considered before. As you say, the score is gorgeous- it just didn't work as Phantom II, especially not with the production mounted in London. It would have been interesting to see what completely different and unconnected love story could have been worked around these songs which seem destined to be all but forgotten ... I'm not sure we'd get much sense out of his autobiography now; he just seems to trot out the same lines about how the latest version of whatever musical is the best blah blah blah, and how it was all wrong before. Tim Rice's book is a fascinating read. Such a pity he has never published Volume 2. Take out the son complication. Take out the Giry continuity with Paris, Build up the quirky US setting, Have more acrobats, magic, and SFX. Build the Us characters up much more - rather than cutting the novel, interesting ones, back when you changed the show, lets see them developed. Let the Phantom lust after Christine, Resolve Christine's dilemna - rather than cop out by shooting her first -- and let Fleck shoot someone - because the Phantom is destroying their lives, after building them a future - if you want a surprise ending??? |
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Post by horton on Jun 9, 2016 7:58:48 GMT
Andrew Lloyd Webber's autobiography would be his biggest work of fiction to date: he lives in a fantasy of his own making.
'The Master and Margarita' needs a composer like Adam Guettel at the very least. The trouble with 'Love Never Dies' was that it wasn't ABOUT anything- it was just a series of characters shuffling around the stage liking and disliking each other with as much reason as a Facebook status. If ALW couldn't understand his own creations, he'd never manage Bulgakov's!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 19:58:06 GMT
He is very keen on blaming the failure of his shows on other things and people. I dont disagree but his illness was legitimate and having seen people go through it no way could he be objective and focus on writing a show at that time. He needed people around him to tell him 'no' |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 9, 2016 22:51:07 GMT
He's an ego maniac- NO one can tell him no. He'll just fire them
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